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Asian MMA: Shinya Aoki vs. Kotetsu Boku title fight planned for April ONE FC event

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Photo by Anton Tabuena

Kotetsu Boku has been penciled in to defend his ONE FC lightweight title this April against Shinya Aoki. The event will also be broadcasted live for the first time all over Asia.

ONE FC 7 is about to go down in less than two weeks, but it looks like ONE Fighting Championship already has made some big plans for their future events.

There were rumors floating about it on twitter, and on Sunday, sources close to the promotion have confirmed to BloodyElbow.com that ONE FC plans to host another show in Singapore this April. According to them, Kotetsu Boku has been penciled in for a headlining spot, and he is likely to make the first defense of his ONE FC lightweight title against top ranked lightweight, Shinya Aoki.

Boku took the inaugural lightweight strap by securing a tremendous come from behind knockout win over the highly regarded Evolve MMA product in Zorobabel Moreira. Devastated about his teammate's loss, Aoki has been calling Boku out ever since.

"Zoro was dominating the fight and was very close to finishing Boku a few times. I want to avenge my teammate, Zorobabel Moreira's loss. Zoro is my closest friend. I want a title shot against Boku," Aoki stated in an interview with Bloody Elbow shortly after Boku's win.

Aoki is coming off a surprising win due to strikes on his DREAM 18 bout against Antonio McKee, and if things go as planned, he will have a chance to extend that winning streak and also get a shot at avenging the tough loss of his teammate.

There are other big news coming from the top Asian promotion, and we have confirmed with reliable sources that this April event will mark the first time a ONE FC event would be televised live all over Asia on ESPN Star Sports. During their first few shows, ONE FC has only been available on a delayed telecast on the popular sports network or an online PPV stream, but they have made the change and will now be moving to a live broadcast starting with the April event.

The channel will also be re-branding to "Fox Sports" in the near future, but as officials have told us, it won't be affecting any of the TV deals in place with ESPN Star. ONE FC has also secured a deal to broadcast events live in Canada, but audiences in the US will likely still have to stick with the online PPVs in the meantime.

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